


The Shadows Whisper

by HeathNils



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Coraline AU, Eventual Romance, Fairy tail au, M/M, Mutal Pining, Secret Relationship, Yaoi, stingue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 20:31:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15871218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeathNils/pseuds/HeathNils
Summary: "Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."- G. K. ChestertonRogue Cheney discovered a small door and a strange doll a little while after they had finally returned to their new apartment flat after the Grand Magic Games. Upon opening it, he finds that leads to a world similar to his own but everything is much better and has the one thing he had always wanted; Sting Eucliffe. But this Sting is different from the Sting he knows; he caring, attentive and romantic but when the 'Other' Sting's intentions for Rogue become clear, Rogue must use every ounce of courage and wit to save himself and get back home; To the 'real' Sting Eucliffe.





	1. Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> I recently watched the movie and read the book, Coraline and thought of immediately of Sting and Rogue. 
> 
> Though this time Rogue's the star and is the one doing all the saving and who doesn't want to see our favorite forever seen uke shadow bae kick ass? And let's be honest, 85% of StinGue fics (at least the ones I've read) Rogue is not only the uke but Sting's always the one that saves him.
> 
> Not this time!
> 
> Call me selfish but every once in awhile I want to read a yaoi fic where the uke saves the seme, so I'm here to tip the scales. It's Rogue's time to shine.
> 
> Enjoy.
> 
> HeathNils

It was beginning to feel the signs of its famish.

It's been some time it had mused since its last meal. It wasn't that this one wasn't a very filling morsel, it was more that it wasn't the magic levels in it wasn't what it was looking for in a meal as it didn't last a mere 20 years but despite that it did keep it sustained as long as it had which was something impressive giving that it was a rather weak creature.

There was a sigh.

Perhaps it was time to find prey.

It had been searching and searching for its next meal, something worthy but it seemed to become a fruitless endeavor. It seemed that within a mere 20 years, they had become arrogant, loud and outright tasteless in its eyes and it feared it would settle for something less par when it finally spotted its next target.

Its next prey.

It stood up, it was dark inside its home with the world outside around it a deep purple swirling with clouds made of black and silver wisps, giving it an appearance of a harmless black hole or perhaps a vortex. There was nothing there save for these colors as it seemed as though it was nothing more then one large canvas of a rather befuddled perhaps even an angry artist who had yet to decide on what it was going to become and perhaps that was how it viewed itself. It made its way to the top of the stairs toward a window and through the mists and clouds seemingly floating aimlessly through the empty space toward the now opened window was a doll.

The doll was that of a girl or perhaps that of a young woman with round black buttons for eyes and silver blonde hair made from strands of yarn that twisted and mended together perfectly into a long and thick braid that was draped delicately over her shoulder and held together by the end with a hand knitted red flower another was perched on the side of her head by her right ear. Her skin was a pale complexion with rose tinted cheeks and a red stitched lines that resembled her smiling mouth that looked rather well weathered. She was covered with cleverly crafted clothes, a knee-length salmon pink skirt, knee- high brown laced up boots, a white tank top with a matching pink cardigan.  
The doll floated through the window and into its hands, a pair of hands, skeletal in appearance made of elongated sewing needles reached forward and removed the doll from the air and pulled it inside a rather barren and dusty looking room, leaving the window open allowing the dusty curtains that framed it to flutter on a non existent wind as voice spoke out, silent and as non existence as the wind.

_Come... Come my little child. My child of Darkness._

It eventually reached a desk and proceeded to place it on top a desk surface upon an open box with one the many drawers there, revealing many sewing tools along with a pair of scissors to which it then proceeded to cut the clothes off the doll's back, rendering it bare. The hands rotated the doll back around to face their owner as two long needles-- it's fingers-- plucked its button eyes out before taking one strand of hair and pulled. The pale blonde yarn came out with relative ease almost similar to one watching the chain reaction as it came out a single thread. A small sewing knife cut the seams that would once served to hold the doll's mouth together allowing the stuffing to simply be pulled it in one go, leaving the doll nothing more then a shell as its fluff dropped out of sight into the darkness at its feet.

It made quick work of turning the fabric inside out, turning the once peach color into a pale ivory before stuffing the husk with new cotton stuffing and placed the slowly refurbishing doll back onto the desk's surface. It reached down and pulled forward a large sewing needle, several large sheets of different colored fabric and a large spool of thread and set to work. It began to cut, piece and stitch together the various colors of fabric accordingly, creating a little outfit for the doll before directing its attention to a pair of dark red buttons, chosen to be the doll's eyes and began to place them accordingly on the doll's face. It stitched them all onto the doll and placed in the yarn meant to be its hair before it finally added and stitched the outfit accordingly to the doll. Once it was done, it pulled back to admire its handy work.

It's new toy.

The doll in its hands was now that of a boy, a young man with messy dark hair, wearing a little black cape with a strange white symbol on its left shoulder was lined with golden edges and a light gray collar and little white ribbon tied nicely around its neck. Below the cape it wore fabric that mimicked a plain gray shirt with brown cuffs and thick gray plastic bands one each circling its arms. A light purple piece of fabric was stitched carefully to its waist to help keep in place four long pieces of cloth reaching down toward its knees each was adorned by a large, dark cross with fan-shaped arms. Under that there was a dark pants wore little brown boots with reflective silver fabric meant to act like armor which, stitched on the front was the very same motif which appears on the waist guard.

It was perfect.

It moved back toward the still opened window with the doll in hand before the doll was lifted out it's clutches floating toward and out through the open window into the void as the window closed behind it. It gave off a smile.

Now it just had to wait.


	2. The Doll

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where has the time gone?
> 
> After reading the previous version, I rewrote it.
> 
> Hope it's better.

The remaining summer of the year of X791 was the surely, in the wise words of his fellow guild mate, one he would never forget, one he would always remember.

It started with a doll.

Rogue Cheney was a young man of 19, a wizard from Fiore's strongest-- well, SECOND strongest now-- guild, called Sabertooth but he was not any mage: He was a dragonslayer, a shadow dragonslayer. He had a rather slim figure that, despite all the muscles he had built with the years of training he put in, if he wore just the right form of clothing, he would be confused for a young woman at a given angle that served to annoy him and constantly test his temper. His dark hair was rather messy, regardless of what he did with it, almost reaching down to his shoulders, and mostly brushed to the right side of his face, covering it. His eyes were a red, the same shade of red as the precious gemstone ruby, he had been told, had unusual sharp canines and had rather unfortunate weakness of motion sickness. He was a private person, Rogue Cheney, a bit shy and a little withdrawn, preferring to be alone with his thoughts, surrounded by nature unlike his partner, Sting Eucliffe, who liked going out and interacting with people, total strangers even. Rogue was the quiet one in his guild always calm, hardly showed any emotions, was a kind hearted man despite the going-ons around him and, especially if it came to his Exceed partner Frosch, he was protective.

Fiore had been buzzing with the news that the mysterious Tenrou Island and the missing core members of the at the time, weakest guild of Fiore, had returned after 7 long years of hiatus. He and his partner, Sting Eucliffe, were tending to a mission of disbanding a dark guild when news began to circulate. 

Sting Eucliffe, like Rogue, was a slim young man of 19 and was mage from the same guild who practiced the same magic he did; dragonslaying magic but he was the white dragonslayer. He was his partner, his opposite, his yin to his yang and together, they formed the team, the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth. Unlike Rogue, who was more slimmer, he was toned with mouth-watering muscles and had no trouble telling everyone around him regardless what he wore, which made one think he was more of a exotic dancer then a wizard of a guild, that he was indeed male. He stood head to head with Rogue with wild blond hair, that stood out in every direction, like he had just woken up. His eyes were slanted with slit pupils and were a bright blue that made Rogue think of a vast ocean, deep and mysterious, despite the emotions that shown so perfectly in them with a thin, diagonal scar above the right one while his left ear was adorned with an earring, a pendant that was crystalline in shape.

Sting was calm, always smiling and rarely lost his temper despite his belief that if people abandon their comrades they were scum and had no problem punishing them for their acts. He enjoyed watching and participating in fights, he was almost like a kid in a candy store and would become disappointed if they ended too quickly, making him desire and dream of a day where he would fight the strongest opponent, revealing a sadistic side of the blonde that unnerved Rogue at times. He was arrogant, a fact Rogue couldn't deny, but he was a good sportsman, never mocked others, even after defeating them and he cared a great deal for his fellow guild mates and his Exceed companion, Lector. He was extremely loyal towards his friends and was not quick to break any promises that he makes, especially to Lector. 

Sting also unfortunate, yet comically (at least to Rogue since it's funnier to him when it's him and not him) suffered from motion sickness.

So when Sting decided to share the news he already heard about, he immediately didn't care at first but upon meeting Natsu Dragneel and confirming the rumor that he and the rest of guild was competing in this year's Grand Magic Games in Crocus, he admittedly found himself changing his views and actually became excited. As much as he would like to deny it, he had always did, in a way, look up to Natsu Dragneel as a child but his sights had always been set on Gajeel Redfox, a fellow dragonslayer much like himself and like Sting, who wanted to prove himself to the fire dragonslayer, he too wanted to prove himself; To Gajeel Redfox.

He and his partner, Sting then began to berate the fire dragonslayer and practically bragged about not only their _'Third Generation Dragonslayer'_ titles, but also their guild status and the murder of their dragon parent by hand, which when he looked back at now, it probably not the smartest thing he had ever done. The four dragsonslayers eventually clashed on the battlefield on the fourth day Grand Magic Games and they, he and his partner, had lost to Natsu Dragneel and by the fifth day, their guild had lost their title of strongest guild and the games to Fairy Tail though Rogue had vague memories of that fight, all he remembered was Gajeel having the upper hand and having what he could call a 'heart-to-heart' with the older man before he heard a sinister voice coming from his own shadow and everything went black. When he woke up, he was lying spread-eagle on his back with Frosch crying over him, in terrible pain and he had been told he had lost his match.

After he had began clean and bandaged up, he and the remainder of his guild minus Minerva and her father, their guild master Jiennma, had met up with other guilds in the king's court yard to aid in the fight against a threat that loomed over the kingdom. 7 large dragons had descended upon the kingdom through the Eclispe Gate and began to lay waste to the kingdom and upon finding out from one of the dragons and from the voice of his shadows that he, himself from the future, was leading them, that he would become this _'man'_ , it was inevitable and he must accept his _'fate'_. He became angry, despondent and hopeless only for his literal light, Sting, to burst out of no where, his dragon followed by his dragon and give him a little pep talk and helped re-instill not only Rogue's hope but his confidence and his fight as well.

He wasn't going to become that man.

Never.

Once the threat had been destroyed, several days later after everyone all recovered, all the guilds that had participated in the Games and or in the Dragon-sized threat were all rewarded with a magnificent banquet and feast by the king himself. He and his guild were currently there, enjoying the festivities and mingling with fellow wizards, being more open, more _'sociable'_ and celebrating the official end of Jiennma's iron-grip reign and the beginning of Sting's reign; One of where friendships would be allowed to grow and where everyone treated each other like family. Yukino Aguria, who had been forced out by Jiennma in an undignified way had been asked by Sting himself to rejoin their guild to which she agreed (after a large brawl between the six guilds that had completed broke out on the matter of which guild Yukino should really join). Now that he was the new Guild Master of Sabertooth, he was much more cheerful, developing a much more happier demeanor and is now more easy-going with others as seen when he was trying to seek out Natsu to have a toast on the new friendship between Sabertooth and Fairy Tail, though he settled with Gajeel in the end. 

He could not stop staring at the blonde.

It was no secret that he had a little crush on his partner and the only people Rogue allowed the knowledge to was Yukino and Frosch though Rufus and Orga eventually caught wind of it. Rogue had known Sting since they were small children, since they found the other wandering alone with their Exceed partners in a nearby long forgotten city, long before they had wound up as the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth. Sting was an energetic, bubbly kid, despite the nasty rumors that circled around him and the numerous fistfights he got himself into whereas Rogue was quiet, kept to the shadows, avoiding people as much as he could and when the two eventually crossed paths; it was beginning of the perfect friendship. As they both grew older, Rogue began to view Sting a different light, he wasn't sure how or why but he knew what it meant; he was in love with his best friend.

He couldn't help smiling, his face becoming warm whenever Sting set foot into the same room as him, smiled at him, spoke with him or complimented him. His heart would flutter, beat faster every time Sting came up to him talked to him and smiled at him. He would become angry and jealous even whenever Sting would compliment another, a woman and divert his attention to them, flirted with the women, never him and leaving him feel insecure, hopeless, despondent and making him realize that not only had he no chance but that Sting preferred women, female; something he was not. But it didn't mean that he couldn't be there for Sting, encourage him and support him an anyway he could even if it meant the destruction of his feelings and heart or the angry voice that roared at him; sounding almost like Skiadrum.

He was happy when Sting was happy.

"Can't stop staring at him, huh?"

He jumped, nearly choking on the appetizer he was munching on, forcing him to cough as a form of breathing as he pounded his fist against his chest and a hand, rather harshly, patted his back. His little Exceed partner, Frosch, a small, long-tailed green cat with large, round eyes and rosy cheeks, always seen wearing a pink frog-like suit, covered by black spots, a plain belly and a hood which forms the frog's head, complete with two beady eyes resting on the hood though it wore a little crown for the banquet fretted at his feet.

"Rogue!"

"Woah. Easy there." The same voice chided with rough edge. "No need to overact."

Once he finally managed to get his breathing in control, he finally whipped his head around to glare heatedly at the laughing face of none other then Gajeel Redfox.  
A tall and muscular man with long, untamed black hair kept slicked back, revealing his forehead and red eyes similar to his own with slitted dark pupils, and no visible eyebrows. When and if parts his body is exposed they were revealed to be covered in a number of simple, round studs, three each above his eyes (acting as 'eyebrows'), two on each side of his nose, two on his chin just below his mouth, his ears were adorned by a set of five earrings each and sported four studs in each of his forearms, with his right one being covered in scars. He was the iron dragonslayer of Fairy Tail and Rogue's self-declared older brother.

"Gajeel." Rogue growled once his airway had been cleared. He shot a quick smile to Frosch. "I'm okay Frosch. I promise."

"Okay." The little cat nodded.

"Chill with the anger, I only asked a question." Gajeel scoffed. "No need for hostility."

"That's rich coming from you," Rogue rolled his eyes. "How did you think I would react after YOU nearly caused me to choke?"

"Hey-- It's how things work in our guild." Gajeel grunted. "And if you guys plan to be friends with us, you might as well get used to it."

"Fro thinks so too."

"Oh how generous of you." Rogue rolled his eyes before a playful smirk found itself onto his face. "Has anyone told you how ridiculous you look?"

It wasn't a total lie. The outfit Gajeel was wearing just didn't suit him; dark blue pressed slacks, overcoat with light blue color cuffs, collar and matching vest, a white pressed dress shirt and gloves with a yellow ascot. His wild mane had been tamed into a tight ponytail and Rogue found that he couldn't stop snickering. It wasn't something that Rogue would ever imagine seeing Gajeel wear; Ever.

A ridiculous sight indeed.

"Oh screw you Cheney!" Gajeel snarled. "At least I don't look like I'm walking out from Mozart's house!"

Rogue raised a brow. "That doesn't make sense."

"Doesn't have to." Gajeel grunted before his eyes fell upon Sting, who was in the middle of a toast with Natsu, who for some unclear reason supported a pumpkin head on his head. He looked back to Rogue. "I take it Sting's yer mate?" 

Rogue choked again, this time on his own saliva.

"Geez. What's with you and yer self-choking fetish?" Gajeel asked. "Guess that's a fat _'yes'_."

"Why would you even ask that?!"

"Dunno." Gajeel shrugged. "You've been looking at him all night."

"Fro thinks so too."

"Have not." Rogue grumbled. "Don't give Frosch any ideas. If anything, I'm just making sure he doesn't choke on something and die."

"Pfft-- Like you?"

"Shut up." 

"Are you okay Rogue?"

Once Rogue assured Frosch once more he was fine, it was then he noticed that the older man was carrying something under his arm; a lumpy parcel covered in thick paper and held together by a string. He tilted his head.

"What's with the parcel?"

"What?"

"The parcel." Rogue repeated, pointing at it. "Why are you carrying around a lumpy thing?" 

"Oh that," Gajeel grunted before he held it out to the startled shadow mage, "I actually brought it over for you-- More likely Shrimp made me do it."

"For me?" Rogue was confused but accepted the parcel. It wasn't his birthday as September wasn't for another two months. He turned it over, examining it and found his name scrawled in the paper while Frosch crawled onto his shoulder for a better look. "What for?"

"Now don't think I'm doing this to be nice," Gajeel grunted, "I do this because it's the right thing ta do."

Rogue rolled his eyes and continued to unwrap the lumpy parcel. He careful pulled the course string apart, pushing the heavy wrapper aside to reveal--

"A-- Doll?"

Inside of the paper packaging was a doll. 

It was a doll of himself with dark yarn to represent his messy hair, dark red button eyes and wearing a little black cape with the white Sabertooth Guild symbol on its left shoulder was lined with golden edges and a light gray collar and little white ribbon tied nicely around its neck. Below the cape it wore fabric that mimicked a plain gray shirt with brown cuffs and thick gray plastic bands one each circling its arms. A light purple piece of fabric was stitched carefully to its waist to help keep in place four long pieces of cloth reaching down toward its knees each was adorned by a large, dark cross with fan-shaped arms. Under that there was a dark pants wore little brown boots with reflective silver fabric meant to act like armor which, stitched on the front was the very same motif which appears on the waist guard. 

It was like he was looking a miniature version of himself.

"It's pretty!" Frosch cooed, it's small paws reaching out in a grabbing motion. "It looks like Rogue!"

"Yes... It does." He looked to Gajeel. "You made... You made a doll of me?"

"What? Hell no!" Gajeel sneered. "Do I look like I'm into that pansy shit?"

"Well-- No." Rogue agreed. "Did one of the women from your guild make it?"

"Don't think so." Gajeel shrugged. "Smells like it's been 'round awhile."

Rogue sniffed it himself and confirmed Gajeel's statement. Something seemed off. "How old is it?"

"Dunno. Probably as old as the old fart." Gajeel answered. "Probably older then Fairy Tail itself, judging by the smell."

" _'Older then Fairy Tail'?_ " Rogue echoed, ignoring Frosch's attempts to touch the doll. "Fairy Tail has been around a little over a century. How can a doll, with my hair and my clothes, be older the Fairy Tail when I'm not even two decades old?"

"I dunno alright." Gajeel growled, annoyed. "I found it like that okay?"

"You found it?" Rogue blinked.

"Did I stutter?"

"No." Rogue shook his head. "But if you don't mind me asking-- Where did you find it?"

"I was fightin' Salamander the other day-- A week after we came back from Tenrou and about three, three and a half months before this whole thing kicked off," Gajeel shrugged, "When Fairy Tail was ousted from the original building and forced to set-up another base outside of town; They took some of the Guild's possessions in these large, locked, foot lockers."

Rogue nodded.

"While Gildarts and Gramps was out, Salamander and I got into a _'disagreement'_." Gajeel looked toward the ceiling. "I forgot what about now-- And our fight escalated and Salamander, I regret to admit, got the upper hand and had me thrown through roof. Literally. I busted through one of those foot lockers they kept in the ceiling; busted it open like a pinata and there it was, lying in a pile of family heirlooms, papers and keepsakes."

Rogue hummed.

"I pocketed it and kept it in my traveling pack, brought it with me here to the games and forgot about it until after the first day when I saw ya'," Gajeel continued, "Decided to give it to you. Simple as that."

"I see."

"Rogue~" Frosch whined.

"Yes?"

"Can I have it?" Frosch beamed, paws held out. "The dolly?"

"What?" Rogue blinked as did Gajeel. "Why?"

"It looks like you." Frosch smiled. "If I have it, I won't be lonely while waiting for you in the room during missions."

"Oh Frosch," Rogue gasped, "I had no idea-- Of course." 

"Yippy!"

And with that, Rogue relinquished his hold on the little doll of himself to the little Exceed, who took it and hugged it as tightly as it possibly could. It was an adorable sight to the shadow mage who couldn't help but coo at the sight just as Sting came bounding towards them, Lector and Yukino in tow.

And immediately, Rogue's jealously and hopelessness reared their ugly heads.

He couldn't deny that Yukino was beautiful young lady, especially in the green dancing gown she wore, showing off her rather slender and well-endowed physique with short, light blue hair and fringes framing her face and a black rose ornament on the left side of her head. He also couldn't deny how happy he was to have her back in the guild but it didn't stop him from feeling. him angry and envious.

"Yo Gajeel."

Gajeel grunted.

"You guys ready to bail?" Sting smiled, a smile that had Rogue's heart pitter-patter before Sting blinked and tilted his head in confusion. "Hey Frosch whatcha got there?"

Rogue blanched. 

He forgot about the doll and he quickly turned to Gajeel only to find the other dragonslayer gone.

_'Bastard.'_

"It's my new dolly." Frosch beamed brightly. "Rogue gave it to me."

"It's looks almost like Rogue, yeah?" Lector noticed. He looked to the ravenette. "Did you make it?"

"No." Rogue answered. "It was a gift."

"Secret admirer?" Sting grinned, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"A fan?" Yukino guessed.

"Stalker?"

"Gajeel gave it Rogue," Frosch beamed, "And Rogue gave it to me."

"Gajeel?" Sting, Yukino and Lector looked confused. "Gajeel gave it to you?"

With a red face, Rogue nodded.

"He made it?" Sting whistled. "Didn't think the guy was one for sewing of any kind."

"He didn't," Rogue replied, "He just found it and thought I'd like it."

"How nice of him." Yukino smiled.

"How nice indeed."

He turned to look back in the spot Gajeel had once stood, his earlier statement floating around his head.

What did he mean Sting was his mate?

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews much appreciated. :3


End file.
